Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery this morning signed an agreement to officially merge the companies. Under the agreement, Paramount paid $77 billion to buy WBD shares for a total value of $110 billion after taking into account WBD's debt.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison confirmed that if the merger of the companies is approved by US regulators, the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming platforms will be merged into one. The new name of the platform to be launched has not been announced and it is not known what will happen to HBO Max subscribers since Paramount+ has not yet been launched globally.
Both studios are maintained and continue to operate as independent studios. Each studio also committed to producing 15 films a year that will remain in theaters for 45 days before being offered through the PVOD platform. The content produced can still be offered to third parties and they can also buy content from other studios.
Paramount currently owns the assets of Warner Bros Television, Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max, CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery networks, Discovery+ and Bleacher Report.
The merger would save $6 billion a year through technology integration, systems consolidation, real estate, and operational efficiencies. As for employees, they face layoffs due to job duplication. Assets could also be sold to reduce the cost of owning the studio lot in Los Angeles.
